karen allen, "bbc news," southern africa. >> now experts say there could be further cliff falls at the site of a massive collapse on corn wall's north cliffs in the southwest of england. take a look at this. people were warned to take extra care. the landslide two weeks ago was filmed by a coastal erosion expert who had been called to the scene afflalo call people reported cracks appearing in the cliffs. >> you've been watching "newsday" from the bbc. >> a reminder of our main news. maritime authorities inand say stranded off the north island coast is leaking a significant amount of oil. thanks for watching. stay with us. >> funding was made possible by the free pakistan foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim. about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies.

the bbc's karen allen has their stories. >> their faces may be unfamiliar, but they're members of an elite club. meet the most influential women in africa and the arab world, winners of this year's nobel peace prize. ellen johnson-sirleaf, the liberian leader, the first female president elected democratically. she's politically astute and is trying to turn her country around. her no-nonsense approach may have lost her friends at home, but it's won her international acclaim. thousands of miles away, news travels fast. during birthday celebrations, the south african nobel lor yacht, desmond tutu. he could hardly contain his excitement. >> woo-hoo! yippy! woo-hoo! >> a fellow liberian shares this prestigious prize for being a tireless peace warrior in troubled times. >> this prize is won by the women of liberia and by extension, the women of africa, because our story is a story of living through wars for 14 years. >> this is a historic moment for africa, where being a woman is really a blessing and not a curse, and where the role of female peace brokers has long been underestimated. >>

karen allen, bbc news, cape town. >> i am in singapore. >> i am in london. the headlines for you and this hour. amanda knox as a rock, and seattle. she says she is thankful to those made it possible. >> amanda knox acquitted of the murder of meredith kercher. she spent nearly four years in jail. the moody's investors service has downgraded italy's consumer credit rating. citing in risk. the decision will make it hard for the anti-government to service its debt. meanwhile, the approval of the creation of a back tax for assets held by the troubled franco-indulgent bank. shares have felt -- shares of fallen sharply over the last trading days. here is our business editor. >> it started as a sovereign debt crisis with european countries like greece not being able to pay their debt and because of fears about whether banks are strong enough to withstand losses. it is now a banking crisis. >> the whole financial sector is getting dumped. >> the only solution for greece is to go into default. >> the euro authorities are so shocked by what is going on, they have not s

karen allen, bbc news, south africa. >> it's now 10 years since u.s.-led forces began their attack on the taliban in afghanistan. the military assault was in the short term a success but the past five years alone more than 10,000 afghan civilians have lost their lives and more than 2,700 troops have been killed since the conflict began. it's already overtaken vietnam as america's longest war. joining me now from west palm beach in florida is a former u.s. ambassador to nato. hello to you. today, in an interview with the bbc, president hamid karzai said the government and nato failed to provide afghans with security and said it was one of the biggest shortcomings. would you agree? >> well, i think so. i think we've seen a number of positive steps that have come out of this. the number of kids in school have increased, and the economy, that you've seen, better economic and agricultural production. you've seen building of roads so there's a lot of progress. but it's all very tenuous. and 10 years on, you can't say that international forces were to leave t

karen brown reports. >> reporter: michael jackson's long time personal physician took the stand for dr. conrad murray's defense. dr. allen metzger told the jurors jackson had problems for more than a decade and had asked for intravenous medication two months before his death. >> did he happen to intention name for this medicine? >> i think he used the word juice. >> the defense hopes to show that he was so desperate for sleep he could have injected himself with propofol. dr. metzger visited with him in april 2009. >> i think his fear was that this was a big obligation. >> reporter: during that same time period, jackson called on a nurse practitioner to help him sleep. >> i said, well, you have a concern about something? he said identify just been tired. >> reporter: earlier in the day, prosecutors rested their case after calling 33 witnesses including medical experts who painted dr. murray as inept and said he was solely responsible for michael jackson's death. but the defense grilled dr. steven shaffer. >> you had no information at your disposal that dr. murray -- >> reporter: dr. shaffer spent four days on the stand an